Box Score Concordia University Chicago Men's Soccer (2-2-1) opened conference play Wednesday night with a trip to Lisle, Ill., to take on Benedictine University (3-1-2). The team continued its quality performance on the road this year, battling to a 2-2 draw after 110 minutes.
Benedictine got the scoring going during the fifth minute, set up by the only assisted goal of the evening. Things were eventually evened up in the 23rd minute thanks to an own goal charged to the Eagles.
The tie lasted for roughly nine minutes before the Eagles again moved out in front, eventually taking the 2-1 lead to the locker room.
The Cougars evened things at two early on in the second half thanks to a stellar goal from sophomore Grayden McClellan (Itasca, Ill.), who found the far side of the net to put it out of reach of the goalkeeper. The goal will certainly go down as a highlight of the season.
An increase in offensive pressure and aggressive defense by the Cougars kept Benedictine off the board in the second half, leading to CUC's second overtime contest of the young season.
Junior Nicholas Pasut (New Boston, Mich.) had a very nice night in the net, making nine saves on 14 shots faced and allowing just two goals. He was very busy during the first half, securing a handful of quality saves that helped keep the game within reach heading into the break.
Excellent saves continued to be made on both ends in overtime as neither team managed a goal in 20 extra minutes.
Notes
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CUC was outshot 14-6
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McClellan had two of the Cougars five shots on goal
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A spark off the bench, freshman Garrett Poynter (Noblesville, Ind.) also produced two shots on goal
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Sophomore Oscar Montejano (Zion, Ill.) and junior Austin Montejano (Zion, Ill.) each had shots, with the latter registering on goal.
The team will be back in action at home this Saturday, Sept. 18, when they do battle with Edgewood College. A stream to the game will be available on the
CUC Athletics YouTube channel.
